Helpers celebrate 'thanks to the Post'

A GENEROUS businessman has stumped up £1,500 to help Reading Volunteer Bureau treat hard-working volunteers to a

celebration party.

The modest company boss from a Reading technology firm put his hand in his pocket but asked not to be named after the Evening Post revealed that cash appeals to more than 100 local businesses had

drawn a blank, leaving organisers

struggling to go ahead.

The donation will ensure tonight's party goes with a swing for around 300 volunteers at the Reading International Solidarity Centre in London Street.

Jane Winter, of Reading Volunteer Bureau, said: "We could hardly believe somebody could be so

generous. It was as a direct result of the Post article highlighting the lack of financial support from the local business community.

"A local technology company has come forward and made a fantastic offer to help pay for the cost of the party and we will now be able to give the volunteers a really good time.

"This man said he was horrified at the poor response from other

organisations and said he valued the work that volunteers put in for the

community.

"We are working flat out to make sure this is a real celebration of

volunteering and that everyone has a good time."

Mrs Winter also thanked Marion Downing, manager of Asda in Tilehurst, who has offered sausage rolls, snacks and drinks for the party. She said: "We are enormously grateful."

Mrs Winter said the party was

neither a recruitment drive nor a fundraising event and she urged

volunteers to come along from seven to 11pm for live music, food and fun.

She added: "We want the

volunteers to enjoy a really good evening for free, for it to be an

occasion when we weren't asking for anything in return.

"Volunteers give thousands of hours in support of Reading's local community and without them many services such as care for the elderly, work in the local environment, help in hospitals and support for children and families could not continue."

The bureau said the one-off party was timed to celebrate 2001, the United Nations International Year of Volunteering, supported by 123 countries. It was the ideal